Joanne Kelly on ‘Warehouse 13’ Season 4.5

Kelly tells us what’s coming up in the second half of the fourth season and girl crushes on “Defiance” star Jaime Murray before complaining about twitter with us.

“Warehouse 13” returns tonight on Syfy. It’s not a brand new season, but it’s the second half of the fourth season, as cable shows are wont to do.

I ran into Joanne Kelly at the evening party for NBC’s summer press day (Syfy is a subsidiary of NBC Universal), so some folks from Syfy’s “Defiance” and NBC’s reality shows were nearby. Kelly was so sweet, she gave me a big hug since it had been so long since our last interview, and chatted jokingly about “Warehouse 13.”

CraveOnline: Is this season five already?

Joanne Kelly: It’s 4.5, I don’t know. It’s beyond me. What can I say?

Have you been surprised how successful it’s been?

That’s what everyone keeps saying. After season three, because I didn’t expect our show to be long lasting. As an actor, you’re like oh, it’ll be a short deal. But after season three, that was my favorite season. I wasn’t surprised after that. Now I am a little bit.

Why was season four your favorite?

I just think it was really amazing. We did some really amazing things. It was my favorite season and then four, because they gave us 20, everyone was used to working on 13 and with 20, the writers were scrambling and it was huge. The backend of four is one of my favorites.

Did you get a break or did you shoot straight through?

No, we shot all of them. We did two hiatuses in the middle but it was 10 months straight which Eddie [McClintock] was just like, “I just want to stick a knife in your business.” I love him to pieces, but…

Are you guys in every scene together pretty much?

I see that guy every day. He knows how to push my buttons. Not even my family, my mother, my father and my brother do not know how to push my buttons like Eddie does.

How does he mess with you on the set?

Oh, he talks about politics. In the morning! At like five o’clock in the morning, if he can’t get a rise. He’ll make a few jokes, if he can’t get a rise out of me he starts talking about politics and it’s just like oh my God.

Does he disagree with you?

Yes. Not about the important stuff, but we actually have the same opinion pretty much. He just knows how to get a rise out of me. He’s like my brother poking me in the back all the time. It’s very frustrating.

So what’s the premiere, if it’s not the season premiere, the first episode of 4.5?

First one back, the plague has been released. It’s an interesting backend because I think you see them trying to deal with external forces so much in the front 10, the back 10 is more about trying to deal with each other.

Have the incidents of the first half of the season affected everyone?

Yeah, and my character, the last four episodes are quite life changing.

Does this season end with a bang for you?

Yes.

Would it be a cliffhanger if we watch the last one?

Yes. I don’t know if I’m back.

Are there any cool objects in the warehouse coming up?

There’s a lot of cool stuff. Jaime Murray.

Is she back?

She’s back!

Have you seen “Defiance” yet?

I haven’t seen it. I was in Canada and Syfy doesn’t air there, so I couldn’t see the show, and I just flew here a day ago. So everyone’s like, “Have you seen ‘Defiance?’” No, because it doesn’t air in Canada! No, but I’m excited to see it.

She’s awesome and she looks awesome in it.

Yeah, I saw these scary photos of her where she’s all blonde and weird. I don’t like it. She’s not my Jaime Murray, my sexy business. I’ve heard it’s really good. I’ve heard a lot of people love it. That’s exciting.

Is there more action in the upcoming half of the season?

I love the second half. The first half for me was rough. It was a very new way to do episodes, to do 10 and 10 together, so I am proud of the back 10. There’s a noir episode. There’s an episode where Eddie was so lovely and he got to wear a fedora and he was very sexy.

What do you watch on TV?

I watch “House of Cards” which was great. I don’t watch a lot. I spend so much time doing it. If I spent that much time watching it I would be a douchebag.

It’s my job to watch TV and I still feel like I don’t watch enough.

There’s so much now and also for you to spend all that time sitting in front of something, go do something.

I try to tire myself so much that I can’t do anything but sit and watch.

That’s what I like to do as well. Like, “Now I need to stay home for six hours and watch ‘House of Cards’ in a row.” One of the weird things about being on TV, because I’ve been in the business for 10 years now, to watch how it goes by numbers. There’s not appointment TV anymore. You sit and watch it when you can because all of us have jobs and we can’t be like, “7 o’clock.” I’m here at 7 o’clock! We are doing things.

Or the people that watch it live tweet every single minute of it.

Exactly. I don’t do the tweeting.

You’re not on Twitter at all?

No, no. I’m a child of the literary bent. I don’t want to see 140 characters. I want to see a story.

People cheat though. They’ll send 10 tweets in a row.

I don’t know. I don’t get it yet. Maybe I will. I’m open to it.

The good thing is you might discover people you never would have heard of or met otherwise.

Well, my boyfriend’s on twitter.

So you use his twitter account?

Well, yeah, and I also look at his because he’s not on Twitter. He follows people. I don’t know, I don’t need 140 characters. I need like 3000. Do you ever feel like that?

I just wrote a 3000 word piece. (The Freditorial on spoof movies)

Did you feel good?

I was proud of it, yes. Everything doesn’t need to be that long, but it just kept spiraling and spiraling.

But I worry about if everything is so short… I grew up, my mom taught English.

I don’t think Twitter should be the only way you communicate. It’s just one thing. That is a danger. I think when texting started, people stopped using the phone. “We text now.” Then Twitter started so they tweet now. Tweet sometimes, but also talk.

Yeah, and have a thought that’s more than that. I don’t know, I’m not ready for it.

Well, we’ll welcome you when you are.

I’m a troglodyte. I think that’s the word for it. Like an old school weird person who throws bricks at their computers.